


Afterglow

by MessOfCurls



Series: Wax and Wane [10]
Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Anal, Anal Sex, Bromance, Bromance to Romance, Climbing Class, College, Developing Relationship, Dorms, First Time, First Time Bottoming, First Time Topping, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Lemon, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Pre-Game(s), Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 01:34:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5689489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MessOfCurls/pseuds/MessOfCurls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're taking things slow, but when it feels right, it feels right.</p><p>(see tags)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Afterglow

**Author's Note:**

> Song Rec: Will Do - TV On The Radio

It was after 3 a.m. and Josh couldn't sleep. It wasn't a deadline that kept him awake, or that restlessness that sometimes had him tossing and turning in the night, tangling himself up in the bed sheets. No. He was thinking. Not a rushed flurry of confused ideas, not this time. Instead, he was slowly ambling through a series of memories, brand new and fresh enough to be revisited in exquisitely vivid detail.

A snore took him out of his head for a moment. The slow rise and fall of Chris's chest was a soothing accompaniment to the nostalgia. His hand, resting on the blonde's chest, traced soft invisible circles in the fabric of a faded t-shirt as Josh fell back into quiet contemplation.

Their physical relationship had been slow burning, nothing more than a trading of affectionate gestures and kisses for a long time. While Josh had been receptive to his touch, the physical need for more than that just hadn't been there, the feelings associated with even the simplest gesture more than enough to satisfy him. But that seemed to work for them, allowing them to build upon the foundation of their friendship one day at a time.

Then, later, it had gone further: curious thoughts becoming inquisitive exploration at a slow, steady pace that felt natural and suited them both, creating intimate, breathless moments followed by reassuring laughter and soothing touches.

That didn't mean he didn't think about it sometimes. He was only human.

The movie society was showing The Thing and he'd convinced Chris to come along without resistance. After the movie they'd had a few drinks and walked back in the snow, exchanging a few snowballs and shoves before Chris pulled him to one side, stopping beneath the flickering light of a faulty streetlamp to place both snow damp gloved hands on Josh's cheeks and kiss him. When he gave the blonde a questioning look, Chris gave the answer he seemed to give more often these days. "Just because." 

They'd tumbled back into their dorm room sometime after one a.m, their usual banter passing back and forth with ease, both a little merry but not stinking drunk.

And then?

An innocent touch, dusting the snow from Josh's shoulders, became something else altogether. Before he knew it, his hands were bunching at the front of Chris's coat while the blonde dispensed with his hat, exposed fingers cradling his head as they kissed. Eager hands worked loose zips and buttons, their outer clothes gradually pooling on the dorm room floor. That was, until the process was cut short by Chris leaning against him with one hand as he attempted to untie his shoes with the other. He failed miserably and stumbled backwards, landing ungracefully on Josh's bed. The blonde looked up at him rather sheepishly before the pair both burst into easy laughter.

Beneath the covers, humour became a warm exchange of body heat. Wrapped up in each other’s attention, deft fingers elicited heated responses. He remembered warm breath on his neck giving way to soft lips and reassuring words. He'd been getting close for a while, bordering on it but biting it back, when he stopped to hold Chris’s hand by the wrist, receiving a quizzical look in response. 

He'd reached out from beneath the covers and fumbled with the drawer of his nightstand, hesitating for a moment as he sightlessly found what he sought.

The three foil wrappers had come into his possession a few weeks ago, when a safe sex initiative had set up some tables in the university proper. They'd been giving advice and handing out leaflets and free contraception and... he'd thought, well... why not? It was then, walking away, that he'd first begun to properly consider it and address his feelings on the subject. Since then they'd lain among the clutter of the drawer, quiet neighbours to flyers, receipts, half used up blister packs and screw top bottles of medication. 

For a moment he had second thoughts, inexperience getting the better of him. But with Chris watching him, concern mingling with a need the blonde would never voice in his eyes, Josh found his nerve. He held one between his fingers and witnessed a look of genuine surprise.

"I thought..." He said, trailing off breathlessly.

In hindsight perhaps it would've been better to talk it through sooner, before it got to this point. He told Chris almost everything. His best friend knew the most about him out of everyone in the entire world, probably better than his shrink even. Though it could have been an awkward conversation, Josh knew deep down that it would've been fine in the end. He could speak to Chris freely, uninhibited with his thoughts on good days. And yet, talking about this had been more than a little daunting.

When Chris failed to reply, Josh winced, entirely the victim of his own forwardness. They should've talked about it. He'd briefly wondered how Chris would react, but as usual he had been more focused on himself. He placed it on the bed beside him, giving the other man the chance to reject it.

"...We don't have to. Just.. if you want to...?”

While the situation definitely dictated his decision to broach the suggestion - his body achingly tight with need - it wasn't an impulse. He had thought about it. Considered it at length. 

Perhaps seeing that he had already prepared for such an eventuality and had obviously given thought to it helped to quell the uncertainty worn quite openly on Chris's face. "...Do _you_ want to?" The blonde asked finally.

Chris had always been there, giving so much of himself and expecting nothing in return. In a way that would never fully make up for all the years his friend had been there, Josh hoped he could give something of himself back to him, if only just a fraction of what he'd received. He didn't just want to, he needed to.

A gentle nod became firmer and more certain with each bob of Josh's head. Reassured, Chris's mouth found his own.

They'd both been so unsure of themselves, but that was unsurprising. It had been completely new ground, yet another first in the recent run of many. He remembered the quiet anticipation, lying there, mind and pulse racing while Chris busied himself, the quiet broken by a self-deprecating mumble of "It's been a long time since sex ed, gimme a break."

Chris returned to him, fingers trailing along Josh's neck and shoulder. "...How do you wanna..?"

His pulse quickened. In his mind he'd thought about the numerous possibilities and variations of how this could play out, but as Chris knelt back to slip his t-shirt over his head - a rather rare act - Josh knew what he wanted.

"...I wanna see your face."

There were two moments that looped around in his memory. No, three. No. There were more than that. Hundreds of tiny snapshots playing over and over, each of them making his heart skip a beat.

Clumsy shuffling as a folded pillow bolstered his lower back. Breathy laughter as Chris murmured something to mask their shared nerves. Careful hands gripping the backs of his thighs. A soft handful of duvet clenched in his fist. The curving of his spine. That slow, gradual acceptance of another body that screwed his eyes shut and had him whispering curses, pleasure marked with a hardship he deserved. The long moment of stillness that threatened to overwhelm them both.

Chris had paused to make sure he was okay, gazing down at him through heavy-lidded eyes, showing more restraint than either of them probably felt. Josh was certain the blonde would have stopped entirely without a second thought if he had changed his mind or if it was all too much. Eager nods were the only response Josh could muster, but it had been enough.

It had hurt, at least at first, as he'd expected it would. But it was so much more than that; more than a simple case of good or bad sensation. It was everything all at once, everything he'd ever felt about the other man surfacing in one raw act that left him utterly exposed with nowhere to hide. His guard was down for the first time in so long and that scared him and thrilled him until he felt he might be overwhelmed by it.

Josh said his name over and over, the word so strangely intimate when nicknames were the currency of their exchanges. Chris made a sound that threatened to destroy any resolve he had left, but his friend's face, completely honest and so close to breaking... That had been the end of him, just like he knew it would be.

More than any of that, one memory persisted above all others. Their pulses had barely begun to even out when Chris kissed him in a way he would never forget: fiercely happy and grateful and motivated by all the unsaid things coursing through Josh's veins.

He'd needed a moment to get his head together, to process everything, and Chris had understood. Showering, he felt... so many things. Of the whole evening, that time alone beneath the stream of water had been a blur.

When he returned, Chris was in his t-shirt and sweats beneath the covers. The mess of bedding had been tidied. Without a word, Chris pulled back the duvet and Josh didn't hesitate to join him.

Basking in the afterglow, they'd talked and it had been good. Honesty and reassurance in equal measure, accompanied by light yet meaningful touches. In a way he couldn't completely understand, things had utterly changed and yet were more the same than ever.

Another gentle snore brought Josh back to the present. His hand stilled on Chris's chest as green eyes opened, looking back at him through the darkness. Half asleep, the blonde's eyes were small at first, but when they caught sight of Josh, they opened a little farther, his lips forming a lopsided smile. "Hey..."

"Hey."

Belatedly realising that for some inexplicable reason he wasn’t hugging Josh, Chris rolled over onto his side. A sleep-heavy hand brushed fingers through brown hair before resting on Josh's waist. "C’mere."

They shuffled beneath the duvet as he let Chris gently rearrange them into a more agreeable sleeping arrangement, finally settling behind the older man with a lazy arm wrapped around his waist, his lips gently kissing the nape of Josh’s neck before stilling, replaced by soft, slow breaths that signalled a return to sleep.

Despite the comfort of the embrace, the sun had already begun to rise before sleep finally took Josh too.

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: [@messofcurls-creative](https://messofcurls-creative.tumblr.com/)


End file.
